1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal and a method thereto for displaying information on a small display.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDA), cellular phones, pagers as well as desk-top telephones, are capable of receiving and displaying different kind of information. This information is typically elements comprising a text based on alpha-numerical signs, but the elements can also comprise graphics. However, these types of devices use a display of rather small size, which some users may experience as difficult to monitor. The difficulty lays often in how the information is presented on the display, which might differ depending on the information provider and/or the device itself.
One way of displaying the information would be to wrap text and feed it vertically down the display, which might be preferable if the text is longer than the width of the display. If the text is longer than what can be continued in the number of lines displayable in the display, the text is clipped vertically, causing the remaining text to be accessable by scrolling the text downwards. The scrolling could either be done manually, for example, by pressing on a pre-defined key which activates the scrolling function, or automatically.
Another way of displaying information could be to display text which is continuous, that is text which is shown on a single line. If the text is longer than the width of the display, the text can be scrolled across the display either manually, for example, by pressing on a pre-defined key which activates the scrolling function, or automatically.
Also, these two ways of displaying, can be combined dynamically by the provider and/or the manufacturer. Thus, if some parts are considered as easier to monitor when displayed in one way, and vice versa, then the provider and/or the manufacturer can display the information in the preferred way. For example, the elements can be links displayed in a list, which can be scrolled down vertically. In order to do this quickly, it might be preferable to display the list as continuous text. However, if the elements are initially showing the same content on the display, and the remaining parts are not visible, then it might be preferred to wrap the text.
Here is an example of three elements to be displayed:
http://wap.nokia.com/club.wml
http://wap.nokia.com/stock.wml
http://wap.nokia.com/net.wml
Here is an example of how these three elements can be displayed as continuous text, which initially showing the same content on the display:
http://wap.nokia.com/ . . .
http://wap.nokia.com/ . . .
http://wap.nokia.com/ . . .
Here is another example of how these three elements can be displayed as wrapped text:
http://wap.nokia.com/club.wml
http://wap.nokia.com/stock.wml
http://wap.nokia.com/net.wml
Both of these two alternatives can be useful depending on what the user would like to do. However, there are very few possibilities for the user to affect the elements. Therefore, there is a need to improve and facilitate the possibilities to display the information on a display.